Yes, environmental management is a young field. In certain professional circles, people have a good understanding of it, but at birthday parties, you're usually met with a bewildered look when you talk about environmental management. Nevertheless, this field has already undergone considerable development. We'd like to pause and reflect on that development. What perspectives on environmental management do we know from the past and present, and what does the future hold for the further development of the field?

First, let's look at the development of environmental management to date. This stems, firstly, from progressive insight and the maturation of the profession. But we are also forced into it because society now demands something different from the environmental professional than, say, 20 years ago. Several trends underlie this: complex challenges in increasingly crowded Netherlands; climate change and the energy transition; new forms and norms regarding communication; changing notions of citizenship and democracy; and an environmental law with new requirements – but a lack of frameworks – concerning the obtaining of permits and the application of participation. And there are other trends that ensure that environmental management as a field is constantly evolving.

Naturally, there are also different visions and preferences regarding environmental management. Prof. Koppenjan (2010) distinguishes three action orientations, which were introduced at the time by Mertens and Koningsveld (1992):

• The first course of action is the Technical and content-related orientation. In this view, the environment is largely seen as a risk to the task or project. The realization of the project is central, and an environment-oriented approach is absent unless that environment causes complications. Stakeholders who obstruct the realization of the project are then effectively treated as a Problem which needs to be resolved.
• The second one is the strategic orientation(not to be confused with SOM). Here, the environment is seen as a complex context within which the organization's goals must be achieved. Organizations then work in an environmentally focused manner, but primarily where stakeholders are favorably disposed towards project realization from the initiator's perspective. Stakeholder involvement consequently remains limited. The environment primarily functions as a strategic instrument, by means of which the organization can mitigate resistance from the environment or more easily achieve its own objectives. It does this by selectively involving parties or by forming coalitions.
• The third is the communicative orientation. In this, a (project) organization attempts to cope with complexity and uncertainty through dialogue and clear communication with its environment. The belief is that striving for consensus and mutual trust facilitates the ultimate realization of tasks.

In recent decades, the technical-content orientation has increasingly given way to strategic and communicative orientations. The old way of working is no longer effective, and this has everything to do with the aforementioned societal trends. Where the environment was previously seen as a secondary concern, it is now increasingly recognized as a distinct field of expertise for professionals. At first glance, this seems like a positive development, but there appears to be a catch. Environmental management is rarely assigned to a single person, not even an environmental professional. A new understanding is slowly but surely dawning that working with environmental considerations requires an integrated and holistic approach. Thus, it demands something not only from the environmental professional but from the entire organization. In other words, working with environmental considerations is an organizational competency. Call it a fourth orientation: the organizational orientation.

If we decide that working in an environmentally conscious way is an organizational competence, then we are dealing with an organizational issue. In other words, to do better work outside the organization and build sustainable relationships, we need to embed environmentally conscious working within the organization. But where to begin?

The most important, and immediately the most complex, aspect is building shared values and environmental awareness. This quickly calls for a cultural change. Such a change takes time and often involves resistance. Therefore, it is necessary for embedding an environmentally focused approach to take place at a strategic level. This means: the top of the organization must embrace and promote the embedding of environmentally focused work. We are therefore talking about higher management layers, the management team (MT), and above all the supervisory board (RvB). After all, the latter is responsible for the (long-term) direction or strategy of the organization. When employees see this example being set, and experience support from the top, they also feel empowered to uphold these values. This helps colleagues hold each other accountable when they notice that intended actions threaten to damage stakeholders' trust. After all, if one colleague damages trust, the entire organization suffers from it.

However, anchoring does not stop at an organization-wide vision, shared values, and environmental awareness. Competencies, resources, and tools are also needed to actually implement environmentally oriented work. This means that methods must be provided, suitable tools must be developed, and employees must be trained in them. It has become apparent that the environmental component is not taken into account at all in many projects during the execution phase. This applies to larger, but especially to smaller projects. Environmental management and associated methodologies must be included as a permanent part of the project approach, regardless of the nature and scope of a project. The environment deserves a fixed and self-evident place in the project workflow.

In short, the field of environmental management is no longer in its infancy but is still in a process of maturation. A new orientation towards environmentally-focused work as an organizational competence is a next step the field needs to fully come of age. Everyone in the organization can help build this competence. Will you help build it?

This article is based on the thesis research that Jan-Pieter van de Weerd wrote as part of his internship at WesselinkVanZijst.

Consultant

Jan-Pieter van de Weerd

Senior consultant

Robin Schram